Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 工 represents the sound. Originally was a pictograph of a creature, with two heads on each end, that resembled a rainbow.
Components
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | huwng | m-kˤoŋ | rainbow |
| kaewngH | kˤroŋ-s | rainbow |
說文解字
《說文》：“虹，螮蝀也。狀似蟲。从虫，工聲。《明堂》、《月令》曰：‘虹始見。’”
Sources
- Character origin
- 漢語多功能字庫
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)